I had a wonderful trip to phajodhing during the auspicious (birth anniversary of Guru Rinpoche) day with my family. It was a long and tiring journey. Before our trip we planned to eat our lunch at the phajodhig tsho. We all moved out early in the morning at five so as to reach our destiny on time. On the way I saw a small tail with fur. I, at first thought it was a dog but when I told this to my parents, I finally found out that that creature was a bear. I then walked at side of my parents. We reached at Phajodhing after a long six hour walk. There I can feel the beauty of the place. The foul air replaced by the fresh air and the ugly polluted environment replaced by the green grass and forest. I felt like I was in paradise. Sometimes I cannot describe the place because it is beyond my description. There were several lhakhangs at a distance from each other. We visited all the lhakhangs and offered butter and prostrated. We also visited some sacred place (Ney). It was already two and we are still at phajodhing. I thought we would never get a chance to visit the tsho. Some says it is a long two hours walk. So the plan was unsuccessful. At three we started to move back but I felt like I was moving from paradise to the lost paradise.

The following day past without any fun and activity but eagerly waiting for the final of 2014 world cup between Germany and Argentina. I was with Germany and my three brother were with Argentina. We had a bet. If I wins I get five hundred each from my three brothers and if I lose, I should give five hundred each to my brothers. It was a great match. Fortunately the Germans won by one goal and lifted their fourth trophy. It was sorrowful and heart touching when the players were crying. I won the bet. That was the greatest bet I had ever won.

Busy week

It was a wonderful sunny day and I was with my father in the market. We were making ready the necessary items needed for my brother while working. It was a long day shopping and I felt like sleeping peacefully without the noise of traffic and human. When we came back at home it was already three, so we rushed in packing the items as my brother have to report at four pm. I, for a while thought, if time could be like a fly without wings. That time I was as fast as speeding cheetah. Then I took some fruit juice to relax. At three thirty my brother left for work. I heard a voice call. He was my cousin brother Kinley and he actually was calling me for help to change his car’s tyre. I and my brother went to workshop and it was a very long wait until we changed the tyre. At eight we came back. I ate the dinner at nine and until four am, I watched my favorite game,” the world cup tournament quarter final”.

Next morning our family members were called for a match. Early in the morning at eight, we all gathered at changlimithang stadium. Our enemy looks stronger than us but we put them into test. It was a great match as I scored the winner goal. Our team were so thirsty and hungry after the match. But we again played another match at motithng. That time all the four goals were scored by my brother. In that match my brother was the hero and man of the match. After the match, we went back to home for four pm lunch. I felt asleep after my tummy was full. That day I missed the world cup match.

In the next following days, I was at my village helping my relatives to plant potatoes. I also did some other agricultural works. From the work I did, I got more knowledge about farm works. 

Week of football

This week was the most joyful and interesting week in this summer vacation. I meet my parents and friends whom I really missed during my college days. They gave me good company. At that time I felt like the boss of the house because everybody came to visit me and offer me some gifts as if I am the king of the country. We had fun that night. Later I went with my friend Sangay to town to enjoy our happy visit.  First he took me to the playground where I came across most of my class mates and friends of class twelve. They happily welcomed me and my friend. We played for hours in the skin peering sun. It was already three and my empty stomach is gargling. Then I and Sangay went to ama restaurant to eat lunch. We had great lunch. The curry was great and the hospitality were great. I came back home at six. My parent prepared a delicious evening meal, especially for me. I enjoyed to the fullest. It was a great start of my vacation.

I and the neighbors usually used to play at night on the road until the time of dinner. We really enjoys the game much like it is the game of world cup. When it is ten we are busy watching the game which the world loved the most. Among our neighbors, family and friends we keep bet. Whoever wins the bet wins the most prize and the second one gets some share of the bet. The last one do not get a single penny and it was me. I always lose my bet. Sometimes when the luck favors me, I wins. Even to predict a goal we bet and I can’t stay on the laps of luxury. I take so much pain to get money from my parents but still I enjoy watching the world cup. We all choose a country and put a bet on it. Many of them choose Brazil and I was the only guy to put money on Germany. They knew Germany would win and they were so foolish to say “I hate Germany”, this simple reason made them so dull. I asked many of them about Germany .They have no strong reasons and they just simply hated the Germans. I too don’t like Germany but I being wise choose Germany. They have the best squad.

Much of my first week of the vacation has been so great. I enjoyed much and the world cup tournament have saved me from boredom. 

STIPEND: It should be increased.

Students studying in the various government colleges in Bhutan are privileged with free education as well as a monthly stipend to meet the daily expenses. Just like the other college, Sherubtse College is of no exceptional. What excites more with the month coming to the end is looking at the notice board of respective hostel whether there is any notice of stipend or not. Usually hostel counselor’s writes a notice ie, “Collect your stipend from room 308 by 5:30pm” (Notice board of DH 8, 2014). Monthly stipend provided by the government to the full scholarship students in Sherubtse College is one thousand five hundred which has been not revised for the longtime. Consequently, if you visit the Choesung shop in the upper market of Kanglung, you will be surprised to see many student keeping their national identity card for keeping the debt which shows that the stipend given to the students is not sufficient and there is an immediate need to increase in the stipend to meet the increase in food prices, to continue giving the quality and quantitative food to the mess catering students and to provide with the right amount of balanced diet food to the future leaders of the nations.

With the recent Indian economy infatuating and the issue of rupee crisis,Bhutan has been affected as Bhutanese depends on Indian market. So with the crisis, there has been increase in the prices of all the commodities imported. With increase in prices, there should be increase in stipend too but unfortunately there is no increase. On the contradictory, there was a rise in the stipend of the Bhutanese students who are studying in India under government scholarship stating the reason as “rising cost of living and inflation” which came to effect from July 1,2011. So as India is the closet trading nation of Bhutan, every change in Indian price has an immediate impact on Bhutan but when stipend in India was increased, there wasn’t any such increase in colleges in Bhutan.  With the rise in prices, one thousand five hundred of which one hundred and fifty is already deducted by the concerned authorities as room charge is not enough to buy the food items for the following month. If you visit some of the shop in upper market area where Sherubtsean buys their food item, you would not be surprised to see credit book listing names of the student. Today the price of 50 kilogram rice has increased by up to Nu.50 (Bhutan Broadcasting Service, 2012) and the vegetables prices are increasing with hike in neighboring country.

Other area where fewer stipends can affect is the quality and the quantity of the food served to the student of mess catering hostel. Stipend of the mess catered student is directly used by the college authorities to give them three daily meals. However, it won’t be possible to give them the same quality of food that was once served to the student few years back with the same stipend and changing prices of the food item. For a student, it is must to give both quality and quantity food but with constant rise in food prices, it would not be enough to give it.Even the conversion of mess catering hostel to self-catering hostel like the recently of DH (Degree Hostel) III shows that with more numbers of student and less amount of money, it is not possible to give good food so there is a change as self-catering hostel works better than mess one. This can be shown by the deaths of student in Orong higher secondary school in 2010 showed lacked of nutritional content in food in boarding school (Tenzin, 2012) which mean boarding school does not provide good quality food.

 While our body need right amount of nutrition for better functioning of the body system and also to live healthy, it won’t be possible with current stipend which when further divided to individual day comes not more than Nu. 50, which is not enough to buy all the necessary food items required to have healthy diet. Consequences of insufficient balanced diet food cause malnutrition. With little amount of money, it won’t be possible to buy all the food and as in the case of Orong High school which states that “Their nutrition level is below the recommended daily allowance (RDA),” “It’s 0.7 milligram a decilitre (mg/dl), when they’re required to have 1.5mg/dl a day,” “They are lacking vitamins like B1 and B12” (Pokhrel, 2012). Vitamin B12 which is available from meat, egg and fish only cannot be brought by Nu.50 a day stipend.Not just vitamin, our body needs carbohydrate, protein and fats which come from the variety of food items and to purchase variety of food item, more than Nu.50 is must. Given the importance of health as “Health is wealth” there is a need to revise the stipend. Let not the case of Orong happen in Sherubtse and it’s always “Prevention is better than cure.”
Source: Kinzang Gyeltshen (Geo-Honours)

WISH

“Pema, cancel off all my appointment of this evening”, Tshering asked as he hurriedly takes off his white coat and moves out leaving his stethoscope on the table. “I have to go urgently”.

“But sir, you have more than 10 patients” she replied.

“Tell them to come tomorrow, sorry” he moves out.

Tshering takes a taxi towards home, the sky is clear and stars are shining brightly. He looks at his watch frequently.

“You are so restless mister” driver said.

“Yes” replied Tshering as he took out the money and hurriedly stepped outside.

“Keep the change” Tshering shouts as he gets inside his house.

“Where is he?” his eyes going to every direction of the house.

“Why are you so excited to see him, dear?” replied Dechen sitting warmly in the couch, knitting “he hasn’t reached yet.”

“I haven’t seen him for last nine years” replied Tshering sitting near to her.

From the window, lights from the moving vehicles entered the room penetrating the closed curtain and chirping of cricket and croaking of frogsis added music to the nature. The moving of second hand in the wall clock is the only soundwhich echoed inside as the couple sat silently.

“He should be here by this time” wonders Tshering, “where can he be just now?”

“Dad, it is getting dark, let’s go to mama’s place” speaks Tobgay licking the vanilla ice cream with all his mouth covered by cream.

“Ok,” replied Dorji paying money to the ice cream vendor.

They moved towards the mall where they had parked their car. Little Tobgay holding his father hand and Dorji carrying a bouquet of flowers drove towards the county side, away from the city.

“I am very excited to see him” Tshering tells to his wife, “I don’t know how he looks like” confused Tshering sits near Dechen, a cup in his hand, smell of coffee felt from the cup.

“I don’t know how to start a conversation with him when we meet” Tshering continues speaking, “he was…ahh!What should I say now?”

“What is so special about him?” Dechen showing a wrinkled forehead, irritated with his words,answered him.

“You will never know, it is a very long story, dear”, Tshering said.

“Since he is late, share to me” Dechen replied.

Tshering began telling the story. Tshering began how he and Dorji were college buddies and with them was Dorji’s close and childhood friend Zangmo.

“Who is Zangmo, now?” Dechen confused asked, “You never told me about her till now.”

“How can I? I almost forgot her” replied Tshering.

He continued his story. He tells all the happy days they had and how they enjoy their college life, having all the experiences of being the good student, Dorji always topped the class and Tshering and Zangmo would forceDorji to give them treat for his success.

“But one day, Zangmo…” Tshering, wiping his forehead said.

“What happened?” Dechen confused, tugging the shirts of Tshering, trying to know more on it.

“She got pregnant.”

“Whose?”

“I never knew about it but her father doubted on Dorji as they were close friends and suspected their friendship” Tshering continued.

“The problem got very worse when Zangmo left her home leaving a letter for her parents and the next day Zangmo’s father along with Policemen came to Dorji’s house and Dorji was taken under custody.”

“What happened next?” Dechen leaving her knitting asked.

“Dorji was kept under the custody for almost two days. He was questioned and was tortured physically.” Tshering narrates the bruises on the Dorji’s face when he was released when policemen couldn’t find anything for him. They couldn’t even trace the whereabouts of Zangmo.

“And you know…” he continued, “situation got worse when Dorji suddenly disappeared”.

“What’s the new twist now?” Dechen with frowning eyes looked at Tshering.

“From that day, we never heard of him or Zangmo but we believed they were together” Tshering sipping the last sip of coffee.

“Yes, we were together” answered Dorji standing at the front door.

“Oh God! When did you arrive?” Tshering hurriedly stood up, moving towards him.

“Just before you finished narrating my story” replied Dorji.

“So you are Dorji,” Dechen said leaving her knit on the table, greeting him.

“Hello aunty, I am Tobgay. Where is my mom?” Tobgay asked hiding behind his father’s leg.

“My son,” Dorji said. “He came to see his mom here,” Dorji nodded giving the bouquet of flowers to Dechen.

“Come in Tobgay, Uncle Tshering was waiting for you for a long time” Dechen said taking Tobgay’s hand and taking him in with her.

“How have you been?” where were you all this time?” Tshering said, holding Dorji’s hand and hugging him again and again.

Then Dorji started narrating the story. After his release from the police custody, Dorji received a phone call from the Zangmo and the next day Dorji moved out for Zangmo.

“So, Tobgay is yours and Zangmo’s child,” Tshering asked.

“No, he isn’t”, Dorji replied looking at his son playing with Dechen.

Zangmo was secretly in relationship with one of the classmate, Namgay and they became close and unfortunately she got pregnant but Namgay left her when he heard about it. Zangmo unable to face the society, the stigma she went through she decided to run away. Later when Zangmo heard about Dorji in problem, she called him and told him about it. Dorji then later moved out for Zangmo which people thought of as, them eloping together.

“So you married her for this boy,” Tshering said.

“We never married, he thinks I am his father” Dorji said.

Zangmo left her son alone after the delivery. “Now, he thinks I am his father and I couldn’t tell him about her mother’s death”, continued Dorji, “he is waiting for his mother now and I told him he will meet her here.”

“I didn’t have other option,” Dorji sighed and took water.

Their conversation continued while Dechen prepared the dining table for dinner.

“Dinner is ready guys,” Dechen said as she cleaned the plate.

“Come on, let’s eat food and talk about it later” Tshering said wiping his eyes.

At dinner table, Tobgay askedabout his mother frequently and Tshering who couldn’t see the little boy so much in hurry to see his mom suddenly said,

“Son, your mother is sitting next to you” Tshering said pointing to Dechen.

“Me!” Dechen said with bulging eyes.

Tobgay who was eagerly waiting for her mother, to see her, instantly cried a lot hugging her.

“But how…” Dechen couldn’t continue as Tshering holding her hand, nodded to her.

Next morning, Dorji drove back home with his head down, his body shrugged and tearful eyes waving goodbye. He disappeared again, far from everybody.

“Dear, we haven’t heard from Dorji again”, “Is he okay?” Dechen asked dressing Tobgay for the school.

Tshering remained silently, reading the newspaper and sipping tea.Tobgay waved goodbye and left for school in the school bus.

“Dorji passed away”, Tshering answered, hiding his face in the newspaper as the bus moved away from the sight with thick black smoke leaving the traces of the bus. Dechen crashed the plate upon hearing it. She sat down, her eyes glittering with tears.

“He was here because he had cancer. He came here just to drop Tobgay because he didn’t want him to be orphan and he thought we were the perfect family for him. He left him here and he left the world” Tshering said in low, stammering voice.

“How did you know that?” Dechen said, comforting Tshering.

“We talked about it when you were preparing dinner. He told me to take care of Tobgay and that was his last wish. I couldn’t deny his plead, so I accepted it and I thank you for understanding it and accepting him.”

“I am happy that I am a mother to him,” she replied “and you are a good father.” Dechen continued, “Even our wish to have child is also fulfilled” she said in a satisfaction tone.

“Dorji was a good father too” Tshering said hugging her tight.

Happiness and money

(Photo courtesy: Google)

When people accepted earth as their first habitat, god gifted them happiness but not richness and money. With the gradual change in technology due to modernization, everything never remained same. Money conquered the world and happiness lost its war against money. Money is everything, it can buy luxurious properties like car, land, house and power but it cannot buy happiness. Happiness is elusive. Scientist have found that American millionaires living in huge, luxurious houses are barely happier than Masai warriors in Kenya who live in huts. Happiness won’t create problems, people won’t suffer, and peace will prosper in the county whereas money will make people rich which would result in inequality, poverty, slavery system and wildness.                                                                                                                                                 

In the chaos of world war ll, people all over the world did not have what they wanted “Happiness” except Bhutan. The people living in most of the spectacular place on world are suffering due to the lack of happiness including Bhutan. During the world war l and world war ll, almost all the country around the world lost most of their men. People were killed mercessly on the battlefield. Bhutan remained unharmed, untouched, unconquered and not rich because Bhutan at that time is not developed and she do not have relation with most of the world’s powerful nations like japan, Germany and America. So the people of Bhutan enjoyed peaceful and happy life. So Bhutan lived with peace and happiness.

In the 21^st century globalization and modernization made a big impact on Bhutan. It made Bhutan industrialized and developed and people became rich and luxurious. Now Bhutan is different than before. People murder each other for money, steal money and things, youngsters form gangs, fight, torcher and rape weak gender and some bully for money. Although GNH is the fundamental aspect in Bhutanese society, people do not follow it. Happiness once became important in the country and now money became the most important one. People do everything for money. Everything is what made the country unhappy.

When Bhutan became modernized nation, slavery system also came into existence, with the division of people into rich and poor category. Only 30% of Bhutanese people are literate. 70% of the population are uneducated youngsters and villagers and drop out students. Most of the parents who were unable to feed and provide shelter to their children were send to the urban areas to work and earn money so that it will benefit their family. The children are badly treated and brutally abused. They work with hard labor under an owner. Child labor is increasing day by day in urban areas which will affect the happiness of the individual person and nation as a whole.

More the money, less you are happy. If Bhutan become even richer than ever, the situation will be even worse. Chaos will increase dramatically. More crime cases will pile up in police station. There will be competition between the rich people trying to top the Bhutan’s wealthiest man which will affect most of the poor people. Division of territory will occur in which poor people living in slum and rich people living in buildings. Even the rich people will be in tension because of the amount of money they have. United States is much richer than it was 50 years ago, but it has produced no measurable increase in overall happiness. Rich people will not get satisfied with what they have, instead they will do different kinds of business which will affect the people who are working under the particular rich person and the rich person. Some of the billionaires has made more money by selling drugs all over the world which will earn a lot and will also involves danger. So such type of more problems will occur in Bhutan. One such type of case has happened in which a Bhutanese woman was transporting drugs to Thailand. The woman was caught and sentenced to jail. In this case, the woman and the family will be unhappy. All the people in Bhutan will also be unhappy because such type of case did not happen since now.

Bhutanese people are not happier than they were in the past, although the way of living has doubled. To prevail happiness forever in the country, every people in the country should be equal to each other. Then there will not be discrimination, suffering, and war among people. So, Bhutan can fulfill all the pillars of GNH. The people will live in peace and prosperity. Bhutan should develop but people should not get richer with the change. People can build good relationship with friends and families if we remain neutral. We the Bhutanese should believe in Buddha’s teachings which prohibits us from doing unnecessary things. Every people should remember that money can buy anything even human (in Europe, billionaires buy soccer players from clubs) but it cannot buy happiness. Money is a fake happiness but happiness is true happiness which will remain in the heart until the soul vanishes completely from the universe.

(Photo courtesy: Google)

human life

(Photo Courtesy: Google)

Lives of urban area can be considered more luxurious and comfortable. They are also considered most intelligent and creative species that have ever originated. These urbanized people are digitized that they depend on machines to do their daily works. But they are never in peace as we can clearly see that their creation are their own destruction. Wars and crime ruined the happiness of the society. People are suffering from poverty and different types of dangerous diseases such as AIDS, Bird flu and tuberculosis. People dies and suffer. Poor are left aside and rich are given the preference. So there is no justice and equality.

(Photo Courtesy: Natures Beauty)

But survivor in the harsh forest has their own methods and techniques to begin a wonderful life. In some of the forest of Africa, man use beautiful, colorful and fancy dress from nature to attract their sex partner. They hunt their own meal, they depend on their own what to do and what not to do. They live by their own law and die without regret. Here even the past customs and traditions can be preserved and practiced. They do not have to worry about the crimes and war. So this can be considered the true nature’s way of life whereas urban style can be considered the artificial way of life.